KickStarter Kingdom Come: Deliverance - Dan Vavra's medieval chad simulator

[Tom Selleck]

that kitchen nook is nicer than my apartment

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I recently finished this game, so it's mini-review time.

The Good
________

+ A good RPG that is a welcome break from fantasy tropes. There's a bit of fantasy in the way that alchemy works, but everything else is well-grounded in a recognizable reality.
+ If you are a Czech (not me) or a fan of history (me), you are going to love this game. There is a ton of factual historical events going on in the background that you'll appreciate better if you recognize places and names. I have a streak of dark humor in me, so I did laugh when I heard a woman in game state that the Catholic Church would never have Jan Hus burned at the stake since he was a teacher in Prague and the Church wasn't like that anymore.
+ I really liked the characters in this game. Even the bastard young nobleman I thought I was going to hate ended up being pretty bro. And your well-spoken lord ended up becoming closer to you than I thought he would. The village priest you befriend was unforgettable.
+ There are points in the game where you are not expected to act as a one man army. You are sent in to spy and report back. Trying to be a hero will get you killed, but coming back unscathed and with valuable intelligence gets you a lot of rewards.
+ You can play a lot of different builds in the game, though I honestly found being a melee sword and shield fighter to be the easiest way to advance.
+ The game had the balls to go all out with both violence and sex scenes. I was surprised, but will keep the developers credit for being fearless in that regard. Especially since it's obvious that they went for AAA levels of game quality for mass appeal.
+ I thought I was going to hate the ending since I heard a lot of people bitching about it, but I ended up loving it. Your character didn't meet a number of his personal goals, but he did gain in a lot of unexpected ways. That's life for you. The game actually ended more positively than I thought. At least the end didn't have the amount of dead good guys I expected to see.
+ So many cool things to do, from different weapon builds to sneak skills to hunting skills to alchemy and blacksmithing skills. I hope they keep this depth of play in any sequel that comes along.
+ As a Catholic, I really enjoyed the depictions of the Church and the songs of the monks.

The Bad
________

- So my brother gave me his old XBox One since he was upgrading to a newer version. And man the controls for this game are shit on the XBox. Fighting and archery was a pain but lockpicking with this control scheme was rage inducing.
- I'm going to start another "What is an RPG" flame war. One Codexer wisely said that success in an RPG is based upon your character's skills, while success in an action game is based upon the player's twitchy gaming skill. Although bettering my character's skill levels made the gameplay easier, success still seemed way more dependent on how well I handled the controller, especially because of the complexity involved in combat. I'm not a big action gamer, so this was often frustrating for me.
- Skill progression seemed off. There were a ton of ways to improve your melee combat skills in practice sessions. Likewise, drinking raised its associated skill pretty easily. But archery took forever to improve and lockpicking was even more difficult, and also could get pretty expensive.
- The game usually delivers on having multiple solutions to a problem, but there are exceptions. For instance, I killed some bandits that stole a jewel, but the only way I could get the jewel back was by lockpicking a chest. So in order to do the quest I had to drop my intent of being a pure fighter build and delve into skullduggery. There is a fight later in the game that you can't avoid, and it's just you and this massive dude in armor. You don't have the option to wait for help even though you literally brought an army with you. I could see characters that were intent on playing a scout/rogue being absolutely pissed and frustrated here.
- The game is fucking buggy. I got stuck on rocks and trees while exploring before and had to reload.
- And pathfinding sucks. I saved a priest in the middle of a bandit-filled zone and the fucker walked right into a bandit camp which proceeded to kill him before I could act. It's easy to trick animals into getting stuck against brush when hunting them.

All in all, it was a very good game. I wouldn't consider it in one of my top 10 RPGs of the last decade, as I'll reserve that for more tactical RPGs with multiple player characters. But still it was damn good and I am hoping for a decent sequel.

 

[GhostCow]

Knowing nuRockstar, you'll play as a Moor travelling to backwards Europe to teach the people about social justice and feminism.

Do you mean RDR2 is woke? From the videos I've seen it's more like opposite - the protagonist is a straight white male and manly to boot, most other chars are too and there were no stronk wahmen or empowered minorities. Mind you I've only watched like the first 3 hours of the game.

Don't tell me it's SJW infested, I'm quite looking forward to play it when it comes to Steam.

There's at least one strong wahmyn, and a bunch of other highly suspect bullshit shown in this video:


For full screen: https://www.bitchute.com/video/5opFTQmh3cZ3/

I would be interested in it, despite mediocre popamole gameplay, if it at least provided a nice classic western atmosphere but it doesn't seem like it does. In GTA I can at least ignore whiny characters who won't shut up by having fun traversing the map at high speeds and mixing in stunt jumps whenever I can, but in this you only have horses so I don't see all that much potential for fun.

Thank you so much for posting this. I just found my new favorite BitChute channel!

 

[Paul_cz]

Fighting and archery was a pain but lockpicking with this control scheme was rage inducing.

I played the PC version with xbone controller. Did you use the simplified option in the menu? Makes it doable on controller. Although first few levels (like four) whenever I had to lockpick I switched to mouse for a moment since it was still easier. At level 5 or so I just used controller.
Regarding Runt, rogue characters can kill him with a bow. On hardcore that is much bigger problem since he wears a helmet.

 

[cvv]

Yo Smejki, something I've been wondering about since even the KCD launch and now I was reminded of with the Cyberpunk delay.

Why do most developers announce release dates so far in advance, at a point where the game isn't even finished yet and they're not sure it would be, come the predetermined date? Can't they do what Blizzard does? Blizzard always keep saying "game gun be ready when it's ready" and then they announce the release date only like two months ahead. Is it because only Blizzard can afford doing this? Maybe because they never had to take retail in consideration since they've always been a PC developer? Or any other reason?

 

[Smejki]

Simple. You have to plan marketing and lots of production for it.
Changing the plan (cancelling and replanning all the shit) costs money. Lots of money. The closer to the original date you change your mind, the more money it costs.
Some 6 months prior is the last time it costs nothing.
Also re-evaluating the plan is fucking awful when you already failed to meet a deadline. You don't want to announce a delay more than once.
Also you the game is not finished until 2-3 month prior to release and shippable-state finish lines are hard to predict precisesly

However for rich companies this is a question of marketing strategy, financial strategy, and mind games. You want as many people as possible to pay attention, build hype, and exert pressure both internally and externally.

Some facts:
It takes some 2 months to get from "game's finished" to "boxes are in stores".
-> Announcing delay 3 month prior means either extremely costly last minute change, internal uncertainty, or simply delayed announcement of the delay.
The only good release windows are mid-february to late-May and september to late-november. Add exception gaps like E3 +- 1 week and other major events where the public focus is elsewhere. It's even tighter if you are not the top league player. If you overshoot, the delay is usually longer than just the required additional development time and that disrupts the marketing plan immensely.
-> Cyberpunk probably overshot April to June/July so September it is.

I don't know how Blizzard announces their release dates since I care about 1 game they've made in the last 15 years. However I doubt they announce the release dates much later than 6 months prior.
Most recent example of similar dev announcing their next release is HL:Alyx. Release date: March 2020. Announced in November. 5 months.

And all of this doesn't apply if you decide to go pure digital.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Smejki The modding tools that were released recently for KCD, are they available only for amateur modders, or are they also available for licensing by developers? I still hope that you guys become a platform for medieval games and we get flooded by excellent medieval titles.

 

[Smejki]

Well if somebody comes up with such project they sure will have to talk to Crytek.

 

[Smejki]

Yo Smejki, something I've been wondering about since even the KCD launch and now I was reminded of with the Cyberpunk delay.

Why do most developers announce release dates so far in advance, at a point where the game isn't even finished yet and they're not sure it would be, come the predetermined date? Can't they do what Blizzard does? Blizzard always keep saying "game gun be ready when it's ready" and then they announce the release date only like two months ahead. Is it because only Blizzard can afford doing this? Maybe because they never had to take retail in consideration since they've always been a PC developer? Or any other reason?

With the latest news about crunch the most interesting part to me is this tho.
They planned to release in April which means wrap up in February at the latest. That's just 1 month away. 1 month of work. (It's guaranteed they had to know in November, more probably in October, they are not gonna make it BTW.)
Now they wanna release in September, which means wrap up in mid-July. That's 6 months of work. And they are initiating crunch since now
(and we have to take their word for it. I don't. I think they've been crunching already since at least the fukken October. You don't work yandy dandy since the needed delay is announced but since you know the plan is fucked. And they obviously had to be rushing, at least partially, since the E3 release date reveal).
That means they are having trouble with the September even. 6 months of extensive crunch means they are hoping for some 1 year worth of production to be added to the game.
Man, I don't wanna know the state the game is in now. I know how KCD looked in September, almost 4 months before wrap up.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

you know what normal people in non-gamedev industries refer to "crunch" as?
work

 

[Quillon]

games would be done 6 months earlier if devs halved the time they spend on twitter

 

[Crichton]

I purchased this a couple sales back but only started playing recently. I would guess that I'm about halfway through (currently supposed to be tracking down some members of a horse-mutilating conspiracy) and I'm consistently impressed with the hard work that went into it. It has a very Rockstar feel with the detailed world and some nice "cinematic" writing and voice acting (even if it is bloated with pomposity). They put enough work into all these characters that I was willing to keep going through what seemed like 10 hours of following NPCs around from cutscene to cutscene (Sir Hanush is a particular favorite).

I wish had equally nice things to say about the gameplay; I've never been a big fan of minigames and combat is a total clusterfuck during all these encounters with 3-5 enemies. I think the game would be vastly improved if it would just let you take a few buddies along a la Dragon's Dogma, Mass Effect, Skyrim, Rise of the Argonauts, etc. Two small groups clashing would work out a lot better than one guy kiting the stupid NPCs into manageable portions.

 

[Beowulf]

I would guess that I'm about halfway through (currently supposed to be tracking down some members of a horse-mutilating conspiracy)

But seriously - if you enjoy the game so far, it's even better for you

 

[Sentinel]

you know what normal people in non-gamedev industries refer to "crunch" as?
work

Do you actually believe that?

 

[cvv]

you know what normal people in non-gamedev industries refer to "crunch" as?
work

Do you actually believe that?

Dunno, hard to say. I just remember some leaked info describing muh inhuman treatment in Bioware that basically boiled down to a bunch of millennials complaining about having to take orders from the managers and getting only an hour lunch break.

My guess is all this talk about crunch and terrible working conditions is a mix of your standard soulless corpo BS and brainwashed millennials rolling out of their college safe spaces straight into the realities of life.

 

[Sentinel]

you know what normal people in non-gamedev industries refer to "crunch" as?
work

Do you actually believe that?

Dunno, hard to say. I just remember some leaked info describing muh inhuman treatment in Bioware that basically boiled down to a bunch of millennials complaining about having to take orders from the managers and getting only an hour lunch break.

My guess is all this talk about crunch and terrible working conditions is a mix of your standard soulless corpo BS and brainwashed millennials rolling out of their college safe spaces straight into the realities of life.

Well I'm obviously working under the real definition of crunch, ie. working ridiculously long hours for extended periods of time (12+ hour work days). What rusty said is incredibly stupid.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

you know what normal people in non-gamedev industries refer to "crunch" as?
work

Do you actually believe that?

Dunno, hard to say. I just remember some leaked info describing muh inhuman treatment in Bioware that basically boiled down to a bunch of millennials complaining about having to take orders from the managers and getting only an hour lunch break.

My guess is all this talk about crunch and terrible working conditions is a mix of your standard soulless corpo BS and brainwashed millennials rolling out of their college safe spaces straight into the realities of life.

Well I'm obviously working under the real definition of crunch, ie. working ridiculously long hours for extended periods of time (12+ hour work days). What rusty said is incredibly stupid.

go get a job somewhere else
nobody wants to hear people complain about their job, you aren't being forced to work it

 

[Tigranes]

Look at this man with his sharp edges, bravely attacking the dozens of invisible posters in this thread who were whining about work

He's gotta be careful or he might damage the hentai posters lining his bedroom wall

 

[Inspectah]

Fun fact: film industry during production (the actual filming part) avarages 12 hours 6 days a week

 

[Sentinel]

Fun fact: film industry during production (the actual filming part) avarages 12 hours 6 days a week

And film crews are very well paid, on time, and can get royalties from the product they're making, they sign up for those work hours. The production of a movie will last only ~2.5 months precisely because it's so expensive. Not to mention that actors, directors, producers and all these other people are fucking millionaires, which further reinforces the fact that they get very well rewarded for the work they put in.

Videogame crutch lasts longer, no one is getting any royalties for it, they're lucky if they get paid for the work they did, workers didn't sign up for those working hours and they often get penalized for not working extra hours they should have no obligation to work. Maybe if they did, Chris Avellone would still be writing games instead of whoring himself out on twitter.

 

[RK47]

Do you have crying rooms?
On another note, lockpicking should have an alternative solution. Try alchemy acid recipe maybe?

 

[cvv]

Well I'm obviously working under the real definition of crunch, ie. working ridiculously long hours for extended periods of time (12+ hour work days). What rusty said is incredibly stupid.

IF it's true that people are forced to work 12+ hour days 6 days in the week for months on end than that is genuinely fucking awful, no two ways about it. That's some 1800s early capitalism shit. P. sure it's also hilariously illegal everywhere in Yurop.

On another note, lockpicking should have an alternative solution. Try alchemy acid recipe maybe?

I regret so much I didn't try lockpicking with the controller, seeing as people are crying about it so much.
I can only say that I played the whole game on Hardcore with ALL the negative perks, including Shakes and Numbskull, with K&B and never ever I thought lockpicking was remotely a problem.

 

[Wunderbar]

On another note, lockpicking should have an alternative solution. Try alchemy acid recipe maybe?

maybe ability to smash the chest. Every item except quest items will be transformed into junk.

 

[RK47]

Yeah quiet option - lockpicking/alchemy
Not so quiet - bash

 

[Paul_cz]

IF it's true that people are forced to work 12+ hour days 6 days in the week for months on end than that is genuinely fucking awful,

I mean, no one is forced. Slavery was abandoned some time back.